Dead or Alive?
by Chaos will rule
Summary: A complex love story with old enemies popping up left and right.
1. Chapter 1

Italics mean that the person is thinking.

Quotes mean that the person is speaking.

A well-known fire demon walked into Yusuke Urameshi's apartment, cast a quizzical glance around and seemed about to turn to leave when he spotted a certain teenage boy. "Yusuke, where is Kurama?" demanded Hiei.

"I haven't seen him." Yusuke said absently. He would have gone back to watching television except that when he looked up, he found that Hiei, of all people, looked agitated and both Boton and, the ruler of the Spirit World himself, Koenma were standing behind Hiei. "What is wrong? Did something happen?"

"We are trying to locate Kurama for a new case which came up recently. We need his field of expertise. He has, however, seemingly vanished, even with Hiei's Jagan Eye we can't find him." Koenma replied nervously with a side-ways glance at Hiei.

"That's why Hiei looks so worried." Urameshi commented with a smirk. To his surprise, and –almost— his disappointment, Hiei gave no response, not even the slightest reaction.

"His mother didn't even know anything." Boton whispered just loud enough that everyone in the room heard her.

"That means that this is REALLY bad." Yusuke jumped up. "If she had some lame pretext, at least we would know that he was safe." Hiei abruptly turned and left; everyone followed automatically as if he knew where Kurama was. _Well, if anyone knows Kurama the best, it would have to be Hiei. Wow, that leads down a strange path of thought._ Yusuke was lost in thoughts were cut off when he missed the doorway and ran into the wall in his attempt to follow Hiei.

"Come on, Yusuke." Koenma motioned to Yusuke while he followed Boton and Hiei who were already a good ways down the street.

The teenage boy got up hurriedly and ran after them. "Why are we in such a hurry?" He asked Koenma through gasps when he caught up with Hiei. "Kurama is capable of taking care of himself and he can disappear when he chooses."

This apparently only dawning on them at the moment Yusuke, normally the densest among that group of four, said it, Boton and Koenma both stopped short and caught Hiei's arm in an attempt to make him explain why he was worried. Hiei whispered one word so full of hatred that they all suddenly understood: "Karasu."

a/n:

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho.


	2. Chapter 2

Parentheses mean that a person is thinking.

Quotes mean that the person is talking.

(For Your Information: In the following part, it will switch to Kurama's point of view)

Meanwhile, in a forest, far away in demon world near an unnamed village of unnamed and unknown horrors, Kurama walked among trees, his spirit haunted by his previous night's dream. It had been horrible; then he woke up and everything went out of focus mentally. He wasn't where he had been when he had gone to sleep which was in the Human world in his room… or was it? The red-head didn't know. The one thing he did know is that he should leave this place, wherever "this place" was… but he couldn't something inside him made him unable to leave; his head was spinning making it clear that walking was the bare minimum that he could do right now and it required more than that to get out of a demon inhabited forest such as the one he knew he was in.

Then, again, he couldn't remember his dream either; now that he thought about it, it seemed as if it hadn't been a nightmare at all, but instead a dream filled with— Kurama hit the ground hard as he tripped over a tree root. What had he been thinking about? Kurama couldn't remember. He walked and walked and walked… he didn't know how long he had walked when suddenly things came sharply into focus…. There was an all-too-familiar presence behind him, one that he dreaded, one that being left alone with in the state he was in could only ultimately result in one thing: death. The dark haired demon behind Kurama laughed softly as he saw a shudder run through Kurama's body.

I'm dreaming. Kurama thought. No way. Absolutely no way. HE can't be behind me. I can't be HERE. No! Not possible. Karasu can't….

His thoughts cut short at the sound of Karasu's ominous voice. "What are you doing here, Kurama? Come to find me? Well, then, I shall not disappoint you."

What! No way! I wouldn't come to find Karasu! Or would I? I can't think. The drugs are making everything hard to focus on. That's it! Someone drugged me! But who? Kurama, lost in thought, snapped into reality when he felt Karasu creeping closer. "Get away from me!" Kurama panicked; he couldn't think and his movements were slow.

Karasu laughed triumphantly. "If you won't behave, then you'll be punished."

Punished? What did Karasu mean? Kurama's thoughts were answered when one of Karasu's demon bombs blew up behind him. Several more went off; all Kurama could do was scream in pain and try desperately to escape. But there was no escape.

***A while later***

Kurama, beaten, bloody, weak and yet still conscious lay on the ground at Karasu's feet. "You won't fight anymore, now will you?" Karasu murmured, pleased that this meant his victory over the one he loved. He claimed Kurama's lips, but Kurama did not struggle. The sands of time were running out for him, Kurama knew.

a/n:

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho.


	3. Chapter 3

Parentheses mean that a person is thinking.

Quotes mean that the person is talking.

(For Your Information: In the following part, it will switch to 3rd person limited.)

"Where are we going, exactly?" asked Yusuke.

Hiei merely glanced at Yusuke over his shoulder before saying, "Where Karasu is."

"What? Why?" Yusuke came to a full stop.

"Because I can't find Kurama with my Jagan Eye and there are only two things in this world that can do that." Hiei replied stiffly.

"Which are?" Boton prompted.

"Karasu and…" Hiei paused for a moment, "A certain drug given to the person that is trying to be found."

"That is _all_ that the drugs do, right?" Yusuke asked, worried by Hiei's hesitation.

"No." Hiei replied, "It is used when kidnapping someone because it knocks them out and makes them pretty much incapable of thinking for a while after they wake up."

"This is bad." Boton said seeming disheartened.

The group hurried on in their frantic search for Karasu. "I never thought that I would actually be looking for Karasu." Yusuke commented.

"I just hope that Karasu hasn't found Kurama." Boton was on the verge of hysteria as the group reached a portal that took them to where Hiei thought Karasu was.

"Kurama can take care of himself." Yusuke seemed obstinate as they all found that they had ended up in a forest. Hiei started off at a run. "Slow down, Hiei. He is fine."

"No, he is not." Hiei responded and sped up.

***A couple minutes later***

The small group of Boton, Yusuke, and Hiei came to a complete stop as they saw Kurama… and Karasu leaning over him, smiling. Kurama was a bloody mess. There was a pool of blood surrounding him and most of his clothes had, by sheer amount of wounds, been torn to bits.

"Get away from him!" Both Boton and Yusuke jumped about five feet in the air at the sound of a certain furious fire demon who had been staring in shocked silence with the rest of them.

"Yeah!" Boton and Yusuke echoed in unison.

Yusuke and Hiei charged Karasu angrily before stopping so quickly that they nearly fell on their faces; Karasu had his very deadly fingers at Kurama's throat. "Move again and I will rip his throat open." Karasu stated, more as a fact than as a threat.

"Leave him alone!" Hiei practically screamed. Before anyone could do anything about it, Hiei had his sword at Karasu's throat.

"I know you won't do that because I could kill Kurama before you killed me; as it is, he should die of blood loss anyway." Karasu seemed indifferent even though Hiei's blade was at his throat.

"Just leave him alone!" Hiei, jerking Karasu's hand from Kurama's throat, managed to pull him away from Kurama, but as Hiei lost his balance, Karasu escaped. "Kurama!" Hiei totally ignored the retreating Karasu to run to his… friend's side.

(Are they really just friends?) Yusuke wondered. (Hiei would normally not be worrying and he would have chased after Karasu like a blood-hound just to cut him up into little pieces….)

a/n:

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho.


	4. Chapter 4

Parentheses mean that a person is thinking.

Quotes mean that the person is talking.

Boton bent over Kurama to examine his wounds. "He should be fine if we can stop the bleeding and get him to a real doctor." She said as she began to use her healing powers to stop the bleeding.

"Now that that is settled," Yusuke began, "exactly why were you looking for Kurama, Hiei?"

Hiei didn't turn around or answer. Boton, however, answered for him. "Hiei! You're blushing!"

"No way." Yusuke said. "YOU are actually in LOVE with KURAMA?"

"No way!" Hiei replied, but he still didn't turn around.

"You do!" Boton teased.

"Let's just take Kurama to the Spirit World hospital so that he can get healed." Hiei tried to change the subject.

"Alright," Yusuke said as he picked Kurama up. "But on the way there you have to promise to tell Kurama that you love him so that you can hurry up and have a lovey-dovey relationship."

"A," Hiei began, "I don't love him. B, we are both guys so there is no way that Kurama could love me."

"Really?" Yusuke queried sarcastically. "You really do love him, and I bet twenty dollars that Kurama loves you as well but is thinking the same things as you are."

"What?" Hiei turned to face Yusuke for the first time, and Yusuke could see that Hiei's face was a bright red. "There is now way that if I admitted that…" Hiei trailed off as he saw the expression on Yusuke's face change from being dead-serious to a shrewd look.

"So you do love him." Yusuke stated thoughtfully. "Wait until after he gets healed and then tell him."

Hiei remained silent, so, of course, Boton felt the need to intervene. "Promise us that you will or I will stop healing Kurama."

"You wouldn't." Hiei commented.

"Oh?" Boton countered. She stopped healing Kurama and he began to bleed again.

"Alright," Hiei flushed, "I promise."

"Good." Boton made a small motion with her hand and the bleeding stopped. "This is only temporary; we need to get him to the hospital right away.

***At the Spirit World hospital***

"Make sure he is healed soon." Boton finished giving her orders to the nurse who would be tending to Kurama's wounds.

"Okay." The nurse replied. "He should be let out of the hospital in a week."

a/n:

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho.


	5. Chapter 5

Parentheses mean that a person is thinking.

Quotes mean that the person is talking.

(For Your Information: In the following part, it will switch to Kurama's point of view.)

***A week after the previous incident***

"I see you are out of the hospital." Commented captain of the obvious, Yusuke, nudging Hiei pointedly.

"Are you feeling better?" Boton asked, also nudging a now blushing Hiei pointedly.

"I am feeling much better, thanks to you three." Kurama laughed. "I don't know what was wrong with me…. I wasn't thinking straight or something."

"You were drugged." Hiei spoke for the first time that day.

"WHAT?" Yusuke and Boton yelled in unison.

"Once we got in close enough to see Karasu, I could tell it wasn't Karasu blocking my Jagan Eye and, as I said, only one other thing blocks it.

"Your Jagan Eye was actually being blocked?" Kurama seemed surprised. "And, by the way, why were you looking for me with your Jagan Eye, anyway?"

"Hn." Hiei decided to be very descriptive-this is, by the way, sarcasm.

Boton and Yusuke both picked that moment to nudge Hiei pointedly. "Anyway…" Boton began, "We all should meet at Koenma's office tomorrow."

"Speaking of Koenma, wasn't he with us when we left my apartment? He vanished somewhere along the way." Yusuke wondered aloud.

"He had to go back to his office, but I have already reported this whole incident. However, the rest of us have to debrief and figure out how Kurama got drugged. Now though," Here Boton very pointedly looked at Hiei, "Yusuke and I should go tell Koenma that Kurama is alright and out of the hospital."

"Um, Hiei," Kurama began, but Hiei not only refused to meet his gaze, he also turned and left without a word. (What in the world did I miss?) Kurama thought tiredly.

***Much later (It was morning when they had the previous conversation) that day***

Kurama entered his apartment with some trepidation; he wasn't living with his mother anymore so he didn't need to worry about his absence, but finding that someone had managed to drug him was greatly disturbing. He stumbled into his room with a sigh and sat down on his bed, exhausted.

"Kurama, can I talk to you?" came a voice from Kurama's windowsill.

Kurama would have jumped through the roof if it hadn't been for the fact that he was totally exhausted. "Hiei! What are you doing here? What? Yes, we can talk. What do you wan to talk about?"

"Um…. I love you. Okay, bye!" Hiei blurted out and he was about to vanish, when Kurama, having a burst of energy, caught his arm.

"What do you mean, 'I love you'?" Kurama pulled Hiei to the wooden floor from the windowsill.

Hiei tried to pull free, but it was useless. "Um… I…" Hiei sputtered.

"You love me… me?" Kurama persisted. Hiei only blushed. "I love you, too." Kurama pulled Hiei into a kiss.

"What?" Hiei yelled in his confusion after pulling away from Kurama. "No way. I got to go." And again he made an attempt to escape, but Kurama still had a hold of his arm.

"Won't you stay the night?" Kurama asked as he gently pulled Hiei inside and closed the window.

a/n:

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho.


	6. Chapter 6

Parentheses mean that a person is thinking.

Quotes mean that the person is talking.

"So," Boton addressed Koenma, "Now that everyone is here, where should we start in the investigation of how Kurama was drugged?"

"With Kurama." Koenma turned to Kurama.

"Huh?" Boton said.

"What is the last thing you remember before you were knocked out because of the drugs out and ended up in Demon World?" Koemna addressed Kurama.

"Let's seeeeeeeee." Kurama pondered. "I was at Kuwabara's house... He asked if I wanted a drink and I said soda… then I took a drink of what he brought… everything is black after that." Kurama related in disconnected sentences.

"Well," Koenma summed up. "From there, you go to Kuwabara."

***At Kuwabara's house***

"What are you guys doing here?" Kuwabara demanded upon opening the door with an annoyed expression which immediately turned into an expression of shock.

"We are here for answers." Boton replied as she barged past him into the house.

"Answers about what?" Kuwabara inquired nervously.

"How Kurama was drugged." Boton whirled to face him for emphasis.

"Um…" Kuwabara seemed resigned. "Well you need to know one little fact before I explain…."

"Which is?" Yusuke snapped impatiently.

"I love Kurama..." Kuwabara looked sideways at something interesting in his house.

"WHAT?" Boton, Yusuke and Hiei all turned to see Kurama looking at something interesting on the ground.

"But he turned me down," Kuwabara continued, "So, when he was over a while ago, I was planning on getting him drunk so I could…." Kuwabara gestured vaguely. "I asked him if he wanted a drink and he said 'just soda, thank you.' I went to the kitchen, intending to bring him beer instead of soda, but…" Kuwabara stopped.

a/n:

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho.


	7. Chapter 7

Parentheses mean that a person is thinking.

Quotes mean that the person is talking.

"BUT?" Boton prompted loudly.

"Another little history scene." Kuwabara said blanching. "About a day before Kurama came over some demon handed me this drink; he wouldn't tell me what it is so I killed him…"

"But you kept the drink and you gave it to Kurama by accident." Hiei guessed, finishing Kuwabara's explanation angrily.

"Ya." Kuwabara agreed. "Then a black hole (I am guessing that it was a portal) opened up in my room, and then both Kurama and the portal vanished.

"And because of this drink," Boton screamed, "Kurama was transported to Demon World where Karasu did who-knows-what to him, and you didn't even bother to REPORT it?"

"I figured Kurama could take care of himself." Kuwabara turned to close the door in their faces.

Hiei said nothing, but everyone was relatively sure that, while, a split second later, Hiei was sheathing his sword, the cut-up door was due to Hiei's sword.\

"What the hell, Shrimp!" Kuwabara yelled.

"You don't need a door when you are dead." Hiei commented angrily. Soon, true to his name, Kuwabara had been sent flying through his house.

***A few split seconds later***

Hiei had his sword at Kuwabara's throat and only Kurama's restraining hand kept the fire demon from slitting the imbecile's throat. "Kurama." Hiei growled.

"No." was all Kurama said.

"Fine." Hiei sheathed his sword and then addressed Kuwabara. "Remember that the only reason you are alive is Kurama."

"Well," Kuwabara sighed. "I finally know why Kurama turned me down."

There was a resounding "HUH?" from Yusuke and Boton.

"Oh, I see." Boton said. "So you love him, too, eh, Kurama?"

"'Too'?" Kuwabara asked, but everyone ignored him.

"EH?" Yusuke asked. "Hey, Hiei, did you keep your promise?"

"Yes." Hiei replied examining a small black dust spot on the way that had been left there ten years ago by a… okay, that story is irrelevant.

"Does that mean that you two are…?" Here Boton screamed in delight as some strange girls often do.

Kurama and Hiei were examining walls opposite each other when Kuwabara FINALLY realized what this meant. "So you guys are a couple."

"Yes." Kurama and Hiei answered in unison before blushing and leaving the rest up to your imagination…

a/n:

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho.


End file.
